WASHINGTON — Mexico’s ambassador to the United States rejected a suggestion by Republican White House hopeful Rick Perry that US troops could be sent over the border to quell Mexico’s escalating drug wars.

“The issue of participation, or the presence of, US troops on Mexican soil is not on the table,” the ambassador, Arturo Sarukhan, told reporters on Monday.

Perry — who is the governor of Texas, right on the US-Mexico border — raised eyebrows over the weekend by suggesting Mexico’s drug cartel woes might require US military assistance.

Perry, campaigning in New Hampshire, said Saturday that the two countries “can work together. Because there has been in my opinion a lack of trust.